Wheel of Misfortune
by cheerilyEERIE
Summary: Modern AU. After a string of bad luck, Sora ends up with an unexpected roommate that throws his entire life out of balance. When everyone else around him start coming to him with their problems, will his own bad luck finally run out? -Literally a shipping ship with how many ships involved; mainly SoRiku.


disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or any of the characters or settings that may pop up in this story.

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CHAPTER ONE: _It Can't Get Any Worse_

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The night was dark and gloomy… and of _course_ it was stormy; what kind of worst day ever would it be without it pouring rain outside?

A spiky-haired young man was standing underneath the overhang of a very dark, very closed toy store, arms folded and hands trying to warm his chilly skin. The wind wasn't terribly aggressive, but it certainly was freezing out… What kind of weather was this when it was going to be SUMMER?

"A_CHOO_!" He sneezed loudly, hands darting up to cover his face. Groaning, he wiped his hands on his royal blue polo; was he catching a cold? MORE good news!

He folded his arms over his chest again; the words '_Grandpa's Magical Toys_' were embroidered over his breast pocket with a name tag reading "_SORA, senior sales associate_" pinned underneath it. Sniffling feebly, he stared out into the blurry night, waiting for any sign of light to appear in the darkness.

Eyes slid to his wristwatch, noting the time was 7:30PM thanks to Disney's Donald Duck pointing at the numbers on the clock face. His lips pressed together into a thin frown; he'd clocked-out of work at 6:30 and had been standing out there for an hour now.

Suddenly, headlights were on him. He instantly looked up, but immediately regretted it as he picked up a hand to shield his squinting eyes. When the lights shifted to the side, however, and he was greeted with darkness again, a splash of freezing cold rainwater shot all over him. He yelped, jumping back until he rammed himself into the sturdy window of the toy store and then crumbling to the ground.

The driver's side door was kicked wide open and the rushing of boots in deep puddles of water came soon after, "Sora! Sora, are you okay?!"

"Xion, wh-wh-what the Hell was that for?! I'm gonna die of pneumonia or something now!" Sora shrieked, very carefully pulling himself back up to stand. The entirety of the front of his body was soaked through as he held his arms and legs stretched out, away from each other.

His black-haired sister cringed at his loudness, tightening the strings of her black cotton hoodie to protect her hair from further dampening, as well as her ears from her younger brother's screaming.

"I'm sorry; I didn't see the puddle there! Just get in the car and let's get you home."

With that said, Xion hurried back through the puddles and into the driver's seat before slamming the door shut. Sora, however, was on the verge of tears as he slowly waddled up to the passenger door and pulled it open, the cold wind biting at his skin, especially through damp, uncomfortably thin-feeling clothes. He braced himself as he plopped down onto the seat and then shakily pulled the door closed.

The moment he did, he could feel the heat within the vehicle, even smell it. He sighed as he leaned back into the cloth seat, feeling every inch of his previously-frozen skin warming pleasantly.

"All better now?" his sister teased, pulling the car from park into drive and then taking off, out of the parking lot, "Jeez, you'd think I had a little sister with how you just screamed right now."

"Shut up! How about I drench _you_ in puddle water next time?" He barked back, eyebrows furrowing together and nose wrinkling, "My day was complete _shit_ already and then you did that!"

"Calm down, Drama Queen; it couldn't have been _that_ bad… You're gonna laugh about this, like, next week or something."

"No! I won't! And do you know why?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure you're about to give me the long version." Xion rolled her eyes, not that the other could see in the dark, but the heavy sigh she let out was evidence enough that she'd been through this kind of thing before with the younger brunette.

"Because today just… just SUCKED!_"_ He clenched his fists and banged his right one on the armrest along the passenger door, "I've been working here since I was sixteen years old! That's THREE YEARS OF MY LIFE, XION! And Gepetto said he couldn't promote me, even though I've been here for so long!"

He dug his hands into his spiky brown hair, clenching and practically ripping them out in thick wads, "He promoted _his son_ to supervisor, even though he only started working here LAST WEEK!"

Xion stared blank-eyed out the windshield and at the road, throwing out her right hand to mechanically pat her brother on the head. Kind words without the feelings to emphasize them fell from her mouth like month-old ramen.

"There, there… You'll get your chance."

Sora batted away her hand, pulling up his knees and hiding his face and hands in them, "No, I won't! He hates me! He has to! He thought that giving me a new name tag that calls me a _senior sales associate_ would make me feel better!"

Xion sighed again, both hands on the wheel as she drove past the long university campus and turned toward a residential street.

"That… honestly doesn't explain why you've gone into full-whiny baby mode. Did anything else happen?"

"You mean other than kids coming in and trying to steal, breaking stuff and saying they were already broken, and parents complaining about defective toys? And that my car's _still_ in the shop? Oh, and did Mom already tell you that Dad's been deployed again? Because she didn't tell me until _after_ he left!"

"Okay, okay!" The darker-haired of the two was already cringing visibly, "So it's been a crappy day! You're supposed to be the positive one in the family, Sora; just look at tomorrow and think that it can't get any worse, or something!"

She came to a slow stop in front of a tall apartment complex, frowning as she put the car back into park and turned to look at her brother, "If you're not your usual happy, cheery self, then I can only wonder what's in store for me when I get back to my side of town…"

"If you catch Vanitas smiling without doing or thinking of anything evil, take a picture for me." Sora grumbled, pouting as he began to calm down a little.

Xion was right; this really _wasn't_ like him… Maybe it was just that a lot of things happened all at once? Maybe even that school was getting to him a little bit? Being a college freshman at the end of his second semester, he was still getting used to being at the university and having to _actually try_ to get good grades.

"I might… just be stressed out or something."

"Yeah, well, try to do something about that. Take it easy; play a game or something. Distract yourself for a while, but _not_ to the point that you don't do anything at all." Xion shook a finger at him in a matter-of-factly way. She grinned, flicking his nose, "You'll be alright. Besides, you can always go crying to Mom! You live in the room down the hall from hers, right?"

Sora wrinkled his nose again as he swatted his sister's hand away, "I'm done crying! I'm just gonna go to bed and hope that tomorrow's better."

"That's my little bro! Now, get out of my car; I've got a long way to go and an early morning class to deal with tomorrow!"

"What a kind and loving sister you are!" Sora barked, throwing his arms around her and yanking her into a tight hug despite the both of them still having seatbelts tied around them.

"OH, YUCK; YOU'RE WARM AND WET! GET AWAY FROM ME!" She shrieked, shoving at his shoulders fruitlessly until he finally released her, the seatbelt and then let himself out of the car.

"Drive safe, Xion!"

"Go to sleep, Sora!" She called before he could slam the car door in her face.

Sora hurried up the concrete steps leading up into the apartment complex, a lightless, paint-worn sign that read FAIR APARTMENTS hung above the main doorway. He quickly took a key ring from one of the pockets of his khakis and proceeded to unlock the door.

With that done, he entered and shut the glass door behind him, the automatic lock going off so he wouldn't need that particular key again.

He took in a long, deep breath before exhaling completely and dragging his feet down the left side of the hallway and past the main office, which was closed.

His family had owned this apartment complex for years now. Technically, it all belonged to his father, Zack Fair, but, because he was a soldier with the country's military, he was rarely ever home to take care of them. Whenever this happened, his mother, Aerith Fair, would have to take over looking after the place.

_Guess that means that Xion's gonna have to quit her job again..._ He thought while walking, spinning the key ring that held four different keys on it around his index finger.

His mother's family owned a flower shop several blocks behind the university, which wasn't really all that far away. Unfortunately, everyone but his mother from the Gainsborough family was already deceased, so only Aerith could inherit and keep the shop running. So, whenever she'd have to dedicate her attention to the apartments, responsibility for the flower shop always fell onto Xion.

_Well, we _have_ been talking about her coming to live here with me again… It'd be a better commute, but her classes would be a problem, since she goes to that art institute on the western side of town._

He frowned; her sister had seriously been thinking about dropping out of art school to come back home, but this news still felt really foreign to him. Dropping out of school never felt like an option to them growing up, so he didn't know how to feel about seeing his older sister consider it.

Sora blinked, noticing a sloppily closed cardboard box sitting beside his apartment door. Did he get a package? And why was it open—had someone gone through his mail again?

_Just another thing to add to the list of bad luck I've had today,_ he thought in defeat.

When he got up to the box, he bent down and looked inside, noting that items of his own, from the inside of his apartment, had been dumped into it. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion; why was his stuff outside? Standing back up, he looked at the smooth, dark wooden door, only to freeze.

Just beneath the peephole hung a sign that read in big, bold letters "**FOR SALE**," and a yellow sticker plastered sideways over it that said "**SOLD**."

His body suddenly felt cold again as he began to shake; what just…? Why was…?

He took in another long breath, completely filling his lungs before he took off running back down the hall, screaming, "MOOOOOOOOOOM!"

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_TBH..._


End file.
